Perreault finding his groove

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This article was published 31/12/2014 (3930 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Those who love to make snap judgments would have gone thumbs-down on Mathieu Perreault by the end of October.

But as it turns out, there seems to have been some wisdom in the Winnipeg Jets signing the 26-year-old free-agent forward for three years and $9 million last summer.

After his adjustment period with his new team, the native of Drummondville, Que., has come to life as an offensive threat and someone’s who’s pretty quick from Point A to B.

His goal Monday night against the Minnesota Wild gave him nine, and 15 points, in his last 17 games.

“I feel good,” Perreault said Tuesday. “Obviously pucks are going in for me and bounces are going my way and I work really hard. This has been a key my whole career. When you work hard eventually things go your way. At the start of the season, I was working hard and they just weren’t going in. Now they’re going in and I’m just happy I can help.

“Adjusting to a new system, new teammates, new linemates, and I went from centre to wing back to centre back to wing and now I feel very comfortable where my game’s at. And confident as well.”

The speedy forward did not score a goal until his 20th game with the Jets — though it’s worth noting he had a shootout winner in Game No. 15 in Ottawa.

He said Tuesday his faith may have been a little shaken in that early period.

“A little bit but I think Paul (Maurice) did a good job making me feel good about myself,” he said. “He talked to me, said I’m playing good and the chances are there, that eventually it’s going to come. So I felt like I always had the confidence that my coach gave me and that helped a lot, for sure.”

Perreault, who seems to have found a home on the line with Mark Scheifele and Michael Frolik, acknowledged Tuesday with this week’s injury subtraction of Evander Kane from the Jets’ lineup until February, the team’s top two lines will now be shouldering a little more responsibility for the offence.

“It puts a lot more pressure on us to score,” he said. “Obviously we’ve been good. But Evander’s a big part of our team and we’re going to miss him for sure but other guys are going to have to step up and I think our line has some of the guys that have to do that.”

Perreault was also happy to air a leftover grievance from Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Wild, especially that he was belted by a two-handed slash to the back of the legs by Minnesota defenceman Ryan Suter.

“Yeah, I had a chance to look at the replay,” he said. “It was kind of vicious. He got me pretty good on the back of the legs. But I felt alright today, skated and I was fine.”

Perreault said as far as he’s concerned, the unpenalized attack was unprovoked.

“I kind of came up to him after and asked him, ‘What was that all about?’ ” he said. “He thought I speared him behind the net. I was like, ‘Well, you got the wrong guy.’

“Obviously it was a cheap shot by him.”

And he was annoyed referees Ghislain Hebert and Tom Kowal didn’t see the play correctly.

“It’s right in front of the ref, too, I went up to him and I asked him and he said, ‘Oh, he got you in the pants,’ ” Perreault complained to reporters on Tuesday. “Even though if he gets me in the pants, it should be a slashing penalty.”

“That pissed me off.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca